Suits you sir!

In a competitive minefield of electronic components offerings, tailor made solutions can be just what wins the customers vote, Bernd Hantsche discusses

There is little sense in considering the trend of single components within the field of wireless. Particularly in the case of technically demanding chips, the target applications, in other words, the entire circuit system should be analysed in order to obtain information on the future of individual components. Tailor-made solutions therefore are an essential sales advantage for a distributor such as Rutronik. With its Wireless Development Centre and a dedicated wireless line card, RUTRONIK strives to be the consultation and skills interface between the manufacturers and the customers. Wireless experts provide assistance and support in the planning and implementation of wireless applications. Lars Mistander, Manager Wireless Development Centre, describes the task performed by the Team: "We explain our manufacturers' components to our customers so precisely that the customer understands its function and can use them in their applications without wasting time on trial and error." Our Wireless Development Centre supports our customers for instance with troubleshooting in their program codes, in circuit technology, with layout especially for high frequency signals and also with product selection. Continuous new codes and standards challenge distributors just as much as customers and manufacturers. Customised solutions range from the highly integrated GSM module with GPS support and integrated SIM card holder with preinstalled antenna including freely programmable microcontrollers as well as memory and interfaces, through to a chip with minimum wireless functions.

"Particularly small, flexible development companies show us on a daily basis what can be done to improve conservative circuits. Expensive pin-and-socket connectors therefore are simply replaced by cheaper wireless connections and sensitive mechanisms such as a sliding contact and exchanged for long-lasting transceivers," explains Lars Mistander, Manager Wireless Development Centre, based on his own experience. "Innovative ideas get around and we currently see the trend in companies to install wireless systems and to fully re-design old products."

Ultra Low Power is still too high
Many wireless applications are battery-powered. For this reason, power consumption is a decisive criterion for the product manager. Here the distributor is required to have the ability to give advice on the diverse offers made by manufacturers. "In addition to the well-known LowPower and UltraLowPower Infineon chips with 433 and 868MHz range, Nordic Semiconductor products also meet the growing 2.4GHz band requirements," explains Mistander. "Rutronik places as much value on protocol-based wireless technologies: With the IEEE802.15.4 Microchip has developed a high-performance transceiver and already offers ZigBee and the even clearer MiWi; two protocols to choose from."

Infineon, for example, presently has an 868MHz transmitter with an integrated booster especially developed for long battery life. A corresponding PLL synthesizer, a Power Down Mode as well as many other features and only a few external components make this product particularly interesting for remote operation and control.
Nordic Semiconductors covers all ISM bands, however they are increasingly specialising in 2.4GHz technology. Together with Nokia, Nordic has developed a new radio standard with "Wibree" which can be implemented parallel to Bluetooth and is particularly suitable for wireless computer periphery. Among others, an FSK transceiver is already available, with incorporated sensor network protocol, which has considerably raised the bar for low power networking. Dynastream has developed the ANT protocol and Nordic has implemented it using its new chips, resulting in a very interestingly combined product, which can also operate for several years by means of a small battery.
Microchip, on the contrary, has developed the PAN Standard IEEE802.15.4 and is working towards DSSS transmission on only one channel. The transceiver which also operates in the 2.4 GHz band is suitable for ZigBee as well as for a Microchip’s own open source protocol.

Discrete structure does not mean costly acceptance tests

Naturally a wireless application can be implemented without the installation of a spectrum analyser. Rutronik offers for instance a 2.4GHz Vishay module which can be effectively installed in multi-media applications with data rates of up to 8Mbit/s. Rutronik has supplemented its portfolio with Free2Move Bluetooth modules which include all authorisations and releases. A customer can choose from various performance levels: Either choosing a module with integrated antenna or fitting one with an external antenna. The Broadline distributor portfolio also includes special wireless modules for sound streaming. Thus Rutronik offers solutions for discrete structuring of high volume systems as well as development-friendly modules such as those used in small to medium volume systems. A distributor should also be available for advice on which hardware is suitable for which application and is the least expensive in the long run. "Often a company lacks the development know-how for high-frequency wireless chips and, as a result, some electronics developers miscalculate in their planning," says Mistander. "We provide our customers with reference designs and refer them, if necessary, to design and testing companies who have already gained experience in the products implemented. In this way, each design ends up being successful."
RFID – tested anti-pirating system
"Increasingly, companies who previously managed without electronics, are approaching us," says Mistander. "There is a strong trend towards contact-free identification of products." The background for this is mostly the optimisation of logistics or anti-plagiarism methods, which has drastically increased in relevance with product copies originating in the Far East. "This "electronically unfamiliar" clientele constitutes a completely new target group" explains Mistander. "Thanks to our substantial partner network in the areas of HF design, driver programming and RFID production, Rutronik can also assist inexperienced customers in finding solutions with, for example, RFID transponders which offer several memory storage areas." One of these has already been allocated to a specific silicone manufacturer with a particular identification number that cannot be cancelled or manipulated. In this way specific number fields can be allocated to customers and replacement with a pirate copy is made impossible. RFID can also be programmed with individual data, for instance, information such as date of manufacture, version, product status or repair frequency – watertight, heat-resistant, dirt-resistant, long-life and invisible.

Individual and specific
Rutronik's application experts also investigate customer products and make suggestions regarding innovative improvements. In this way they contribute to avoiding misguided development investments. According to Mistander: "Currently we have observed that the greatest uncertainty on behalf of customers lies in wireless networks at sensor and actor level. Queries regarding licences, compatibility as well as product-specific software stacks are common. Many customers intending to implement a ZigBee network suddenly come across more cost-effective alternatives, such as MiWi. Only a detailed network plan will indicate which solution can be recommended. In general, it can be said that the maze of possibilities especially in the wireless sector at the moment is almost unmanageable, particularly since new solutions appear daily and there are no uniform standards. "You really need a good sense of orientation to negotiate the right way. As an initial orientation, we offer our customers our current seminar series "Think Wireless"."

”In one case, a customer wanted to extend his machine with a simple 220V switching logic circuit and use it to send SMS. He asked us for advice on GSM modules. We carefully studied the customer's development project and offered a complete telemetry systems solution directly from our stores," recounts Mistander. "The customer's total expenditure on development was slashed. Instead he only had to configure the telemetry module by SMS and install the circuit board with two screws and four wires into the machine. Each separate development with relay, power supply and a GSM module at such low unit numbers would have been an inappropriate investment.

Wireless bandwidth is endlessly diverse and far from being exhausted: "In a few years digital cameras, for instance, will be fitted with Bluetooth, Wireless-USB, WLAN and GPS and will be automatically fully interchangeable with the other technical equipment," asserts Mistander. A digital camera is already compatible with GSM or GPRS – in the form of the current mobile phones or as special cameras, which are used, for instance, to photograph the weld points on long pipelines to record working procedures, where the co-ordinates of the photographs of individual weld points can be located thanks to the built-in GPS. "Due to the rapidly decreasing GPS prices, this function will in future also be installed in consumer cameras so that you can see which photographs were taken in which places in the world by using Google-Earth", explains Mistander. Rutronik has a paneuropean agreement with Tyco to distribute their GPS-Receiver portfolio. Tyco offers a complete range from low-cost solutions up to newest generation high-end receivers. Both products are very small and compatible to each other. They also offer modules with integrated antennas, modules which support additional gyro-sensors for navigation (AGPS), up to modules with a CAN-bus interface.